---
title: Upon what grounds did the Sultan decline to bestow the Princess upon… — Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Upon what grounds did the Sultan decline to bestow the Princess upon any single Prince? Exam question 3 of lesson 1495 «Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peri Banou, part 82: a lost arrow leads Ahmed to a hidden palace» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peri Banou, par…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Upon what grounds did the Sultan decline to bestow the Princess upon any single Prince?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** ground, do, bestow · **To what, where:** Sultan decline, Princess

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 1495 «Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peri Banou, part 82: a lost arrow leads Ahmed to a hidden palace» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1495-pg503-part82/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1495-pg503-part82:e3:1
# text = Upon what grounds did the Sultan decline to bestow the Princess upon any single Prince?
1	Upon	upon	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grounds	ground	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	decline	decline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	bestow	bestow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
14	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ground** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | past |  | the Sultan decline |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent decline=Eventuality |
| 3 | **bestow** | to-infinitive |  | the Princess |  |  |  | upon any single Prince | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The three princes were of equal rank

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1495-pg503-part82:e3:o1:1
# text = The three princes were of equal rank
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the three princes |  |  |  |  | of equal rank | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The three gifts were of equal merit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1495-pg503-part82:e3:o2:1
# text = The three gifts were of equal merit
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	merit	merit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the three gifts |  |  |  |  | of equal merit | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All gifts were equal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1495-pg503-part82:e3:o3:1
# text = All gifts were equal
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | all gifts |  |  |  |  | equal *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gifts were alike

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1495-pg503-part82:e3:o4:1
# text = The gifts were alike
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	alike	alike	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the gifts |  |  |  |  | alike *property* | tree rules |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the F…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1495-pg503-part82/e2/)
- next →: [Arabian Nights, Prince Ahmed and the F…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1495-pg503-part82/e4/)
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